Time to find a real solution for Dreamers

Like many cities in America, Livingston has the privilege of benefiting from the prosperity immigrants bring with them.

Dreamers, or those protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, were brought to the U.S. as children and raised here as Americans. They are the perfect examples of how immigrants help to boost the economy when given the opportunity to contribute.

But the Dreamers need our help. We have to protect them from losing their right to work and their right to stay in this country. Dreamers might lose their jobs, protection from deportation, and livelihoods if Congress doesn’t act.

After months of debate about the plight of the Dreamers, it is time for Congress to pass protective legislation. Since DACA was instituted in 2012, some 700,000 Dreamers have taken full advantage of the program, getting their educations, serving in the military, working, launching their own businesses and creating jobs for native-born Americans. They’ve had a positive impact on our economy. Congress must recognize their hard work and grant them the protections they deserve.

To summarize their impact, Dreamers account for 700,000 employees in the national workforce. Removing them would costs us $460 billion in lost gross domestic product over a decade. About 95 percent of DACA recipients are either in school or working, and many have invested in car loans, mortgages and higher education. In fact, 55 percent have purchased cars and about 12 percent purchased homes.

Without work permits, Dreamers will be unable to pay back the loans and education fees they committed to.

As I mentioned, many native-born Americans are employed by DACA recipients who launched their own business. Approximately 6 percent of Dreamers have started a business that would close down if no legislative solution can be found to keep them in this nation. That means taxes and other economic contributions would suddenly stop pouring into the economy. Congress cannot allow this to happen.

Though 86 percent of Americans support Dreamers, Congress is stuck on passing bipartisan, comprehensive legal protections for them. Meanwhile, one of the Central Valley’s legislators, Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare, voted yes on the Securing America's Future (SAF) Act – a bill that would have led to a 38 percent annual reduction in legal immigration and failed to provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.

The SAF Act was not a solution for Dreamers, and its lack of bipartisan support prevented it from being successful.

We must retain the talent and grit that Dreamers provide. The energy they pour into their careers and academic success – despite being uncertain about their futures – is inspiring. They should not be punished for a crime they did not commit.

I urge Congress to pass a bipartisan legislative solution for Dreamers immediately.